People urged to donate zakat to govt’s fund

‘Money transfer using cell phone service is helping ensure transparency’.

LAHORE: Zakat and Ushr minister Malik Nadeem Kamran on Wednesday urged the public to contribute their zakat to the department’s fund.

He said with the adoption of the new distribution and monitoring system, the donors could rest assured that their funds would go only to the needy. “The department will share complete information of the recipients with the donors,” he said.

Kamran said a database of beneficiaries had already been compiled to prevent any irregularity in disbursement of funds. He said the department was now comparing its data with the National Database and Registration Authority record.

He said the department was now using the money transfer service of various cell phone companies to disburse zakat funds. He said with the new system in place the department was cutting down on the time and paperwork needed in the distribution of funds.

He said funds were earlier distributed using cross cheques issued in the name of the beneficiaries.

“The department had to prepare up to 500,000 cheques after every three months,” he said.

He said with the new distribution system in place monitoring of the payment process had become easier.

Kamran said that a telephone help-line had been set up by the department for the assistance of deserving beneficiaries.

Information about district- and union council- level committees was now available on the department’s website, he said. This included office addresses and telephone numbers of the committee chairmen, he said. He said application forms for the zakat.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2015.